How about walking around, sightseeing, disco napping, driving, dancing, fucking, whatever in a fucking vinyl & PVC tube all day and night for eight days? What is wrong with you people? I'm all for DIY, but get some oxygen, please.

We found a business that has large cardboard tubes that we are making into lincoln logs. Way lighter weight but of course not structurally as strong as railroad ties. We will be reinforcing some of them for a lighted fence sort of thing.

maryanimal wrote:OK, what is a good length for rebar stakes and how do you curve the ends? I'm going to buy lengths of it at Home Depot/Lowes. Are there places that'll bend it for you?

I like 24" lengths of rebar. I drive 'em in halfway. I do not have candy caned rebar. I don't really want to bother trying to pound them while they're in that shape, although perhaps it's not that bad (I don't know--and people obviously manage). Instead, I top my straight rebar with tennis balls in which an "X" has been scored so the rebar can enter (though topping with plastic pop bottles or other things are fine). Cutting an "x" in a tennis ball is not super easy the first time, and requires a certain amount of finesse, hand strength, a good sharp knife, and gloves. I have finesse, but average hand strength--and a certain amount of nervousness with knives--so Motskyroonmatick showed me how.

How do I keep my rope from slipping off straight rebar? I tilt my rebar gently outward at an angle before I pound them. Then I pull the rope from where it's knotted at the top of the shade structure down to the rebar, wind my rope low on the rebar, several times around, onto itself (before the rope is pulled back up and tied to itself with a fancy-ass knot). In my experience, it has held very well. Checking it periodically is smart, though.

Here's some info on candy caning rebar nonetheless. It's very popular, and it does give you a handle to yank with at the end of the week.

Re: rebar, it can be bent easily by heating w/ a propane torch to dark red a couple inches on either side of the bend point. Use a large vise and a short length of 3/4" or 1" pipe, or two short lengths of pipe propped up on bricks.

Or just buy some military surplus stakes, they're less than a buck where I get them.

I just use the straight pieces, 24". I got some solar lights on the cheap and enlarged the hole in the bottom so the rebar fits in and sticks there. I pound the rebar (slight angle, yep) leave about 8 inches out, put the plastic lamp pipe over that, and cap off with the solar light. looks like I hadn't put the pink plastic garden tape ribbons on the ropes yet... those help with the visuals on the guylines, also the reflective "trip-tease" rope shows up well in night flash shots.

Zeke Chaparral wrote:I just bent some smaller rebar and welded it on the rebar stakes. Works great. To remove from the playa, just put a pipe through the hole with the end on the ground and pull up - out it goes.

It's a very nice! Hubby is in charge of tent structure and soundness. I really need to get him off his butt and get him joining the forum so he can

A) Say hi to you allandB) Handle the technical/build aspects that confuse the absolute hell out of me.

Something else to consider: Tie surveyor's ribbon around your guy lines. Get orange or PINK to draw attention even from the flash of a small light in the dark of night. They tend to gently flap in the wind to make a noticeable, but not annoying sound to those near them. Place two or three of them with 1 foot-long tails on each line.

I've also used styrofoam pipe insulation, commonly called, "NOODLES". They pad the entire exposed length of your stake; you can also fold it over the tip and run it down the other side to cover the entire stake. Just a single wrap of duct tape holds it in place. Then I paint it with a shot of PINK construction spray paint that works upside down.

I am part of the spring bar camp. The vagabond 7 is 10 x 14 feett of pure amazing tent. I explained to another user (i think it was Alex) on how I rigged the extra large awning so it would stand up to the dust storms. The tent is not cheap but incredible and good investment. If you are not up for spending that much money any one of there tents will work as they will help keep the dust out.

Also, for keeping warm at night I would suggest bringing a hot water bottle. I have been brining one for years and find it works wonders for fighting off the cold.

In regards to cleaning, our neighbor last year lent us a leaf blower he had brought with him. No joke, that thing took off 2 years or playa dust.

I love my springbar tent on the playa. The canvas breaths, but doesn't let the dust in. The monkey hut worked great to cover it. It kept the sun off, and the temps way down. The AC unit fit conveniently into the bottom of the door. The canvas doesn't hold in the cold of the AC unit very well (its still worth it and makes a huge difference), but DAMN it feels nice blowing on your head as you sleep into the late morning.

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maryanimal wrote:OK, what is a good length for rebar stakes and how do you curve the ends? I'm going to buy lengths of it at Home Depot/Lowes. Are there places that'll bend it for you?

I like to bend my rebar and still cover them with something or block the walking path around them. Bending the rebar gives me more options and strength when securing a structure.

- For bending rebar Take a long ( at least 3-4 feet ) thick steel pipe and slide it over the rebar to the point that you want to make the bend. Have someone stand ontop of the other side of the rebar to hold it down to the ground, and bend up. You can also use the square part of a truck hitch to make it a one person job. Slide the rebar into hitch and make the bend. Example of a truck hitch that would work is shown below.

TO REMOVE REBAR --- First - Take a long par of vice grip pliers and use them to rotate/twist the rebar around in full circles loosening the playa. The twisting is what really gets the rebar out. After twisting you can use your sledge hammer to pound the rebar from side to side. The twisting helps WAY more then using the brute force of the sledge hammer. After a little work, each rebar should twist out in under a few minuets. If you are still struggling to remove your rebar, make sure you are doing full rotations with your twists while pulling up at the same time.

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